Senior Project Manager, Products

XQ Institute is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to rethinking the high school experience so that every student graduates ready to succeed in life. We work in communities throughout the country, with individual schools and entire school systems, to help them dream big about what high school could be, turn their innovative ideas into action, and create more rigorous and equitable schools.

The Opportunity

Reporting to XQ’s Chief Product Officer,  we seek a Senior Project Manager who is highly skilled and experienced in managing multiple products from idea inception to pilot testing to GTM release, focusing on continuous iteration and enhancement in collaboration with cross-functional teams using agile methodologies. The ideal candidate is meticulously organized and detail-oriented, with proven experience working with vendors on day-to-day execution and long-term project planning in a fast-paced, collaborative work environment. The position requires at least four days a week in the XQ office in Oakland, California. 

Requirements

Key Responsibilities 

• Agile Project Management: Support Product Managers by facilitating sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and stakeholder meetings following Agile principles to enhance product development and ensure timely delivery.
• Workflow Optimization: Develop and maintain efficient, adaptable workflows using tools like Notion, Asana, Airtable, Figma, and Google Suite. Ensure all project plans are clearly documented with defined scope, goals, deliverables, timelines, and milestones.
• Collaborative Resource Mgmt: Foster innovation and streamline solution development by building collaboration across functional teams. Define and manage roles clearly for both internal staff and external contributors engaged in content production and review. Assess and optimize workflow efficiency, proactively addressing gaps and adjusting team roles to meet dynamic project demands and capacity needs.
• Process and Quality Improvement: Continually refine project management processes and practices to optimize project delivery and organizational efficiency. Proactively identify and resolve obstacles to enhance teamwork and communication.
• Communication and Reporting: Keep key stakeholders, including senior leaders, informed about product status, risks, and issues throughout the project lifecycle. Ensure they are aware of key timelines, milestones, dependencies, and necessary trade-offs.
• Budget Management: Assist in tracking and planning product budgets. Provide input into the quarterly and annual budgeting process to align resources with organizational goals.
• Meeting and Presentation Oversight: Plan and manage product-related meetings and presentations. Prepare and oversee the creation of related materials such as memos, decks, and presentations.
• Workstream Coordination: Identify gaps in workstreams, propose solutions, and adjust team roles as needed to address capacity issues and ad-hoc needs.
• Contract and Vendor Management: In partnership with Legal, Operations, and product managers, develop new Scopes of Work and manage contracts. Oversee sourcing and management of vendors to ensure quality and cost-effectiveness.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with a range of stakeholders, including content creators, designers, developers, and vendors, to ensure timely and high-quality completion of project tasks
• Flexibility: Willingness to perform other tasks as assigned and to learn, grow, and stretch

Qualifications

• Employment: 5+ years of work experience in project management or a similar role
• Education: Bachelor’s degree required; candidates without a Bachelor’s degree will not be considered
• Workplace Requirements:
• Report to the Oakland XQ office 4 days a week minimum
• Ability to travel up to 20% time

Additional Skills & Characteristics

• A confident contributor and upbeat, positive collaborator with a consistent spirit of partnership and productive problem-solving 
• Experience working in an agile development process
• “Self-starter” willingness to take initiative and works well both independently and collaboratively
• Ability to adapt to challenges and opportunities with a solutions-oriented, positive perspective
• Compulsion to identify and resolve inefficiencies, and a passion for building cohesive processes
• Proactive sense of urgency in creating solutions; does not wait for others to take action
• Exceptional interpersonal skills; ability to develop relationships with a wide range of individuals and proven ability to collaborate with a diverse, multi-functional team
• Meticulously organized and detailed, with a keen eye and careful attention